と (to) — And (Exhaustive), With, and Quotation
Serves three major roles: (1) connects nouns completely ('A and B', a closed list), (2) marks accompaniment ('together with'), and (3) acts as a quotation/thought marker for verbs like 言う and 思う.
Structure
[Noun] と [Noun] | [Person] と [Verb] | 「Phrase」と 言う
Examples
パンと卵を買います。
Pan to tamago o kaimasu.
I buy bread and eggs.
パン (bread) と (and) 卵 (eggs) — an exhaustive list, nothing else was bought
家族と日本へ行きました。
Kazoku to Nihon e ikimashita.
I went to Japan with my family.
家族 (family) と (with); 日本 (Japan) へ (toward)
「美味しい」と言いました。
"Oishii" to iimashita.
She said, "It's delicious."
と packages the quoted phrase for the verb 言う (say), like quotation marks
• Exhaustive vs Partial: と implies the list is complete. For 'A, B, and other things' (a non-exhaustive list), use や instead. • Mutual Action: Used with verbs that require two parties (結婚する marry, 喧嘩する fight, 会う meet): 彼と結婚する (marry him). • Quotative Particle: The と before 思う (think) and 言う (say) is the same particle, packaging the preceding clause as a single reported concept.
Commonly confused with
The JLPT rarely asks whether you recognise a pattern — it asks which of several similar patterns fits. These are the ones と is tested against.
vs や (partial listing)
と lists items exhaustively (パンと卵 = just bread and eggs); や lists representative examples implying there are others (パンや卵 = bread, eggs, and such).
vs か (or)
と joins nouns as 'A AND B' (both); か joins them as 'A OR B' (a choice): パンと卵 vs パンか卵.
vs に (with 会う)
For 'meet', both 友達と会う and 友達に会う occur; と stresses a mutual/planned meeting between equals, while に treats the person as the one-directional target of the meeting.
More particles
- が (ga) — Subject Marker & Exhaustive Listing
- を (o) — Direct Object & Traversal
- に (ni) — Target, Time, and Existence Location
- で (de) — Context of Action (Location, Means, Condition)
- か (ka) — Question, Or, and Uncertain Identity
- の (no) — Possession, Modification, & Nominalization
- も (mo) — Also, Too, Both/And, Emphasized Quantity
- から (kara) — Starting Point, Origin, & Reason
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